Waterboro man, 5-year-old boy killed in crash that backs up Maine Turnpike for 8 miles

Traffic backed up for miles on the Maine Turnpike after the fatal crash Nov. 18 in Wells. Investigators say the driver of the box truck that crashed into a car had more than 20 convictions for driving violations. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer

A man and a 5-year-old boy were killed and a third person was critically injured in two separate crashes on the Maine Turnpike in the Wells-Kennebunk area Friday afternoon, leading to an 8-mile backup that stretched into the night.

The crashes happened at mile 22 and mile 24, between the Wells and Kennebunk exits, said Maine State Police. The two fatalities came from a crash between a car and a tractor-trailer on the northbound side of the turnpike near mile 22 in Wells about 2 p.m.

The view south from Coles Hill Road in Wells shows northbound traffic backed up for miles. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer

That collision occurred as traffic was slowing because of another crash on the southbound side of the highway. Police said a vehicle traveling erratically at mile 24 in Kennebunk hit the median guardrail. The driver was thrown from the vehicle and taken to a hospital with critical injuries, said state police spokesman Stephen McCausland.

McCausland said the northbound crash happened when a box truck hit the rear of a car driven by Earl Gray, 57, of Waterboro. The truck landed on top of Gray’s car after hitting it, McCausland said, and the impact of that collision pushed Gray’s car into a tractor-trailer in front of the car.

Gray was killed along with Wyatt Frost, 5, of Lyman. McCausland said Gray was a volunteer driver with York County Community Action and had been providing transportation to the boy for a couple of years.

The driver of the box truck, John Kamau, 56, of Lowell, Massachusetts, was delivering mail from New Hampshire to Portland.

Kamau and the driver of the tractor-trailer had slight injuries, but did not need to be taken to a hospital, said McCausland, who also said the trooper’s crash report will be sent to the York County District Attorney’s Office for review.

McCausland did not identify the driver of the tractor-trailer or provide any more information on the driver who was ejected from the car on the southbound side of the turnpike.

Northbound travel lanes were closed until after 7 p.m., nearly five hours after the crash. At 8:30 p.m., the Maine Turnpike Authority sent out a tweet saying that delays along the stretch of turnpike where the crashes occurred had cleared.

Earlier, McCausland said state police would try to check on people in the hundreds of cars that got caught in the backup.

Troopers would “assist with vehicles that may have run out of gas and are now disabled,” McCausland said.

One of those caught in the traffic was Doug Most, an executive with The Boston Globe, who said he and his wife were on their way to Portland for the weekend.

They spent the afternoon and early evening stuck in traffic about a mile south of where the northbound crash occurred.

Most, who spoke to other drivers, said they were mindful of the fatalities just north of them and he didn’t want to appear insensitive to that. But he said drivers were frustrated by the lack of information hours after the crash closed the turnpike. Troopers routed traffic off the turnpike at the Wells exit, then up Route 1 to Kennebunk and back on the turnpike.

But many divers, like Most, were north of the Wells exit and had to wait while ambulances and firetrucks arrived and troopers began investigating the crash, taking measurements and cleaning up debris.

Most said he checked Facebook and Twitter often and found only “vague and not specific and not very frequent” posts from officials about what was happening.

He said people were upset with state police and turnpike officials for not keeping them informed. He said they could have easily provided more information on social media and might have even sent a cruiser through the clogged traffic using a public address system to provide updated information.

At 6:58 p.m., the turnpike authority sent out a tweet that read: “To those stuck in traffic we are so sorry. We continue to ask State Police when traffic will be allowed to move. We are thinking of you.”

The first word that the turnpike was open came in a tweet at 7:11 p.m. from the turnpike authority.

Erin Courtney, spokeswoman for the turnpike authority, said police told turnpike officials that the northbound lanes had to remain closed until the crash area was cleared.

Here at MaineToday Media we value our readers and are committed to growing our community by encouraging you to add to the discussion.

To ensure conscientious dialogue we have implemented a strict no-bullying policy. To participate, you must follow our Terms of Use. Click here to flag and report a comment that violates our terms of use.

Nog

Get a plow, scrape the wrecks off the road and get the traffic flowing again. Never mind the ‘who, how, why’. We don’t care and it doesn’t matter. Stop punishing commuters for a couple bad drivers.

Klem Keely

What did your mother do to you?

Yourtimeisup

the punk was reckless good riddance

Yourtimeisup

amen

mesays

What are you nuts? From what people are saying there were dismembered body parts pinned under the truck. What if your mother/daughter/father/son was was found like that? Would you be so quick to want them scraped off the road like they were a squirrel? Well the victims were someone’s family..so yes, drivers were inconvenienced for a long time… but just think for a moment why that might be.

Yourtimeisup

So was this the punk that was driving recklessly………….

GrayGirl

Shame on you. If it was your family members who were injured or killed, you’d want the police to do their investigative work well.

xcalibur1066

Nog is a Clinton supporter. No further comment is needed.

10isace2

traffic is backed up for miles. It’s probably a safe bet that there was an accident…

mainejeff

The fact remains that the state police and Maine Turnpike Authority did very little to a MAJOR bottleneck of traffic on a Friday evening on the busiest road in the state. This is 2016…..maybe they should contact other states that have better plans in place for timely investigation and clearings of fatal accidents on busy roads.

GrayGirl

In October, I was stuck on a highway in Florida for 1.5 hours because of an accident, too. My little Prius waited patiently in a huge line of semi’s. We waited in the hot sun on tar, but didn’t get all ‘hot and bothered’. Hey, I’m a Maine girl and we know how to be patient.

mainejeff

Good thing that it was only 1.5 hours instead of 5 hours.

MaineMod

You seriously think that traffic in other states does not get backed up after a crash? Try coming out of your cave and driving on I-495 or the Mass Pike sometime. It happens. And in nearly every case, it’s preventable, but the onus is on drivers, not the MTA, or police, or DOT. People need to drive more prudently, not tailgate, and for heavens sake put down the %*$#@! phone.

mainejeff

A 5 hour/ 8 mile back-up??? I lived in So Cal for 12 years so I think that I know and have seen traffic back-ups! Traffic can back up after accidents due to volume, but they know how to clear an accident in a timely manner! Doesn’t the MTA have a radio station that they can update drivers with as well?

I’m right, You’re wrong

I have a feeling you’re the type of person who has an a solution for any type of problem that ever comes up

mainejeff

Nope….but this happens all too often in this state. Same thing happened on I-295 a couple of years ago. Time to move traffic management into the 21st Century!

207in312

Sad story. Rest in peace little guy and his volunteer helper.

deltaeighty8

Confirmed, there is no god.

Sunny Side

I don’t believe God allows or disallows things like this to occur. Evil, negligent or deliberate, is nothing new and not an indication of God’s existence. However, those who passed are now with Him, and those who survive can find strength in His Spirit. That’s my faith, not a fact.

deltaeighty8

That soothed my sympathy pain thank you for the kind words.

reed1v

Yup. Probably drunk or distracted truck driver kills two innocent persons. Bet he will never be charged for his murdering ways.

Les Finesse

You’re speculation that the truck driver was drunk is folly. I speculate he was following too closely.

reed1v

Said “drunk or distracted”. A professional commercial driver should not be driving close. So either on cell phone or under some influence. Not professional in either case.

Pat T

I drove by right after the accident before the police even got there. Horrific scene these people were stopped in traffic and got slammed by large truck. They never had a chance RIP . If you were stuck in traffic small price to pay compared to the poor victims.

deltaeighty8

Couldn’t agree more with you. It’s depressing to think about.

MaineMod

What did the motorists expect? It was a horrific multi-vehicle double fatality! I’ve been stuck on the pike behind an accident before (thankfully not one that serious) and while it’s not fun, I don’t blame the MTA for it.

Anyone subscribed to the MTA alerts can tell you there were at least a dozen or so alerts issued on this particular crash. I got every single one of them. It was a bit hard to keep it all straight as they were sending alerts on both crashes at roughly the same time. There was no shortage of information if you know where to look.

Anyone with a smart phone and Google maps or Waze would also have known what was happening.

There was also considerable reporting on regular media. I suspect 1610 AM on the radio had info as well.

What else could MTA have done? Should they have hired a skywriter? Somehow channeled information to motorists’ brains through some mental telepathy or something?

If motorists want to place blame, then it should lie squarely on the drivers at fault — the driver of the southbound car that hit the guardrail, and the driver of the box truck who was clearly following too closely and/or going too fast for the conditions and slammed into the rear of the victims’ vehicle.

Lessons learned: First, sign up for the MTA alerts. Yes, they will fill up your in box and can be a bit annoying but they are mighty handy at times like this. One of them saved me a lot of inconvenience earlier this week. Second: WATCH FOR BRAKE LIGHTS and SLOW DOWN when you see them.

Debbie Harris

1610 AM had only dead air. I tried many times to get something but they were not broadcasting.

yathink2011

“An executive with the Boston Globe……”, pretty much explains the whining. He’ll probably go home on Sunday and they’ll write a story blaming Donald Trump.

04046

It was a beautiful day I’m so sad for the child and The Man Who Lost His Life people from the South stay in the south it would help the rest of us get where we have to go everyday I have no sympathy for the masses we need a wall in Kittery

Doug Most

Like everyone, my first and primary concern as I told the reporter was with the families. I was heartbroken like everyone.

yathink2011

Of course it was. It would be more believable if you just told them your name and not your title or employer.

bball11

As an executive of a major newspaper, you should know better than to speak to the press and identify yourself as such.

Doug Most

I’m sorry you feel that way but that’s ok. It’s because I work in the media that I respect them doing their job. But I respect your opinion too

Erik Vanderlieb

Seems like they could have done a better job rerouting traffic, maybe into the other lane. Simply closing the turnpike for such a long time seems like it was just the easiest thing for the police to do.

MaineMod

Three vehicles involved, two of them trucks. Debris everywhere. Two fatalities. They closed the pike at exit 19 as soon as they could but sadly, they left their magic wands at home.

Incredible how people who have no idea what was going on are sitting here second guessing the people who had to respond to this tragedy.

rickrotten

Sad story. To read about all the people whining because they got delayed that’s tough. This morning they got to see the sun and enjoy another day, the 5 year old and the 57 year old volunteer will never be able to do that again. To the comment from Nog, what kind of person are you to make a comment like that? I can answer that, but they would pull this comment. RIP to these two who got caught up in this tragedy.

reed1v

Which is why always carry toilet paper, handi wipes, and a large blanket. A jug of water and some food also helps.

Debbie Harris

I heard about it, was not stuck in it but tried to tune in to 1610 AM where you get updates on the turnpike. Unfortunately for quite a period of time there was only dead air. Many prayers going out to all 🙁